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I forked over £100 on two rail tickets to London on Thursday - booked with Trainline.com on line - I ticked the reserve seats box as I am disabled and couldn't stand for 5 minutes let alone the 2 1/2 hours that the journey takes.....
I suddenly realised this morning that the tickets had no seat number or anything else on them and emailed the Trainline to ask where the seats were located (carriage number at least) and received back a response :

"Our seat reservation system reserves seats independently for each booking. The seat reservations are subject to availability. We have contacted our back office team the seats for this journey are not available."

I assume that as Trainline have broken the terms of the contract and if no seats are free in second class - I am free to sit in any available seat in first class ?

I forked over £100 on two rail tickets to London on Thursday - booked with Trainline.com on line - I ticked the reserve seats box as I am disabled and couldn't stand for 5 minutes let alone the 2 1/2 hours that the journey takes.....
I suddenly realised this morning that the tickets had no seat number or anything else on them and emailed the Trainline to ask where the seats were located (carriage number at least) and received back a response :

"Our seat reservation system reserves seats independently for each booking. The seat reservations are subject to availability. We have contacted our back office team the seats for this journey are not available."

I assume that as Trainline have broken the terms of the contract and if no seats are free in second class - I am free to sit in any available seat in first class ?

Im guessing it was just a normal off peak ticket you bought as Advance tickets always come with a reservation as it is mandatory for them.

First class is at the guards discretion and that's going to be a no unless he is sympathetic. Ring up the train company concerned and ask them about booking a seat. And never user the trainline again to buy tickets.

as Advance tickets always come with a reservation as it is mandatory for them.

That depends on the carrier; London Midland, Southern, SW Trains and Arriva trains Wales now operate a quota control advance ticket, which means that you have reserved a place on a specific service but not a seat. You still get a mandatory reservation coupon but it only states time of train and has a '*' for carriage and '**' for seat number.

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It charges booking fees (£1 booking, 50p debit, £2.50 credit), so obviously it's better to book through a free site like EastCoast

Just posting in case the interface is useful for locating the cheap tickets.

i dont know why they have let another one start up!!

Anyway its not that good at all. tried a single from Ramsgate in kent to Birmingham and it only offered Virgin as the connecting service from London. Rubbish.
And it was telling me to change at Faversham for the HS1 when i could have gone on it from Ramsgate anyway. No option to use the not very much slower train and thus anyone who wanted that journey ends up paying 93 one way!!

I just travelled from Yeovil to Exeter. I got the 8.40 train down from London - when I bought my ticket I was told that I was 'Too early' for a return ticket for returning on a different day. Unfortunately I don't have my ticket as it was taken as I left the station..

Is this right? The last time I came down I got the 8.40 and had no issue getting a return for a different day..and if it wasn't right then what can I do about it? I can't find a receipt..and I'm not sure if the guy at the ticket office even gave me one..

It just seems a bit weird for me to have to fork out for two singles (12 quid each..) rather than the 15 quid for one...

I just travelled from Yeovil to Exeter. I got the 8.40 train down from London - when I bought my ticket I was told that I was 'Too early' for a return ticket for returning on a different day. Unfortunately I don't have my ticket as it was taken as I left the station..

Is this right? The last time I came down I got the 8.40 and had no issue getting a return for a different day..and if it wasn't right then what can I do about it? I can't find a receipt..and I'm not sure if the guy at the ticket office even gave me one..

It just seems a bit weird for me to have to fork out for two singles (12 quid each..) rather than the 15 quid for one...

The only return ticket available between Yeovil Junction and Exeter Central or St Davids is an Off Peak Return at £22.50 (£14.85 with railcard).
The first train that that can be used on is the 09:40 departure.
So the man at the station was right... just not very good at explaining it.

It seems that you have a 16-25 railcard.
There is a minimum fare of £12 before 10am with that, which explains the price you paid.
If you come back after 10am, the single fare will be £10.10.

Easy isn't it?

p.s. the guy at the ticket office will only give you a receipt if you ask for one.

Last edited by wealdroam; 15-10-2010 at 12:24 PM.

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The only return ticket available between Yeovil Junction and Exeter Central or St Davids is an Off Peak Return at £22.50 (£14.85 with railcard).
The first train that that can be used on is the 09:40 departure.
So the man at the station was right... just not very good at explaining it.

It seems that you have a 16-25 railcard.
There is a minimum fare of £12 before 10am with that, which explains the price you paid.
If you come back after 10am, the single fare will be £10.10.

Easy isn't it?

p.s. the guy at the ticket office will only give you a receipt if you ask for one.

OK, thanks =) It just really really confused me cos last time I got that train I had to buy the ticket on the train, and the train guard gave me the return...Looks like I'm gonna have to get more organised and actually prebook my tickets...

I forked over £100 on two rail tickets to London on Thursday - booked with Trainline.com on line - I ticked the reserve seats box as I am disabled and couldn't stand for 5 minutes let alone the 2 1/2 hours that the journey takes.....

Book your tickets through one of the train company websites then contact the Assisted Travel service of the departure train company and they can help with changing seat reservations to a more accessible seat near the luggage racks or toilet if this would be helpful. They can also arrange for you to be met and helped with luggage at any intermediate stations.

Thanks for that, that's one site I didn't try. And I didn't think of straight singles either. I've tried splitting the journey at Birmingham and Plymouth, so ending up with 6 singles, but there was always 1 part of the journey that was silly price.

Quote:

Originally Posted by p00hsticks

how flexible are you prepared to be in terms of departure dates / times ?

We are both off work from the 23rd Dec til the 28th, but time wise we're pretty flexible. (I actually made an error, I meant to put 22/12 at about 2pm - because we could take another half day on that day, so I was hoping to save a full days travel. But if it saves us a bit of money I don't mind too much!

Thanks for that, that's one site I didn't try. And I didn't think of straight singles either. I've tried splitting the journey at Birmingham and Plymouth, so ending up with 6 singles, but there was always 1 part of the journey that was silly price.

All the train companies' websites should sell those tickets... even at your local station.

Book them soon as cheap travel around Christmas will sell out quickly.

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